The Yoko Job
by AKay1297
Summary: A cache of royal English jewels were uncovered in London for the first time since Queen Elizabeth in the 1500s. Now, the best conman in the world is after it. Nate and the crew decide to take on their hardest job yet, a job that just might destroy them from the inside out: conning the conman. During the job, Eliot and Parker discover feelings they hadn't had before.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: I recently discovered Leverage, and I'm absolutely in love with it. I thought it would be really interesting to do a fic on it, especially one where they have to beat someone who is better than them at their own game. I know they've done it a few times on the show, but I wanted to give my own version a shot. So here it is! Read, review, and enjoy!**

* * *

**Prologue**

"Hitter, Hacker, Grifter, Thief, Mastermind," Eliot Spencer pointed to each person in the room at as he went. "It's who we are. We don't work without each other. We all trust each other and we need all of us to pull off a successful con."

"Yeah, remember when Hardison tried to be the Grifter?" Parker snorted as she and Eliot remembered the disastrous con.

"And when Sophie tried to run the con?" Nate Ford said forcefully. That had been the most annoying of the jobs they'd taken. He hadn't been allowed to do his thing and Sophie had almost messed it up.

"Is there a point to this?" Hardison piped up, still stung by the fact that none of them had forgotten about the time he tried to Grift.

"The point is, we all need to work together to take down Howe," Nate said.

"Howe?" Eliot, Parker, and Hardison voiced together, shocked.

"As in Jason Howe?" Sophie Devereaux walked into the Boston apartment and dropped her bag down on the floor before seating herself on the couch beside Parker. "He's the best conman in the world. He's only one man, and he can do everything we can do, only better."

"So nice of you to join us, Sophie," Nate smiled pleasantly. "Where've you been?"

"Just visiting an old friend." She motioned to the door and in stepped… Tara Cole. "Tara was in town and I thought I'd say hello. But if we're looking to con Jason Howe, she might come in handy. We could always use a second Grifter."

"I'm still stuck on the fact that we're looking for Jason Howe," Hardison said from his slumped position in his chair.

"What exactly are we planning to do if we find him?" Eliot asked.

"Oh, yes, that's the best part," Nate said, tearing his gaze away from the two Grifters currently standing in his apartment doorway. "We're conning the best conman in the world."

* * *

"These jewels have been undiscovered for centuries, and now for the first time since the 1500s, they are on display here in the Tower of London," a tour guide gestured to the glass case next to him, where priceless amounts of diamonds and precious gems rested against velvet. "Not only do we know that some of these beautiful pieces of jewelry have graced the likes of Anne Boleyn, Queen Elizabeth I, and Catherine of Valois. And they've been hidden for the past four hundred years. Any questions?"

A hand lifted from the back of the pack and the tour guide gestured. A man stepped forward. "What kind of security is there around these cases? I mean, with the historical significance of the pieces inside, there must be some high tech gizmos in here."

"Uh, yes, sir, we've got guards with rotating passcodes, heat, motion, pressure, and seismic sensors to detect intruders, and they are under strictly monitored conditions. If anything changes inside the case, a steel cage drops down from the ceiling around the entire room and around the cases themselves. We've also got lasers and an electrified floor at night with a four password unlocking procedure. These are the safest cases in the world."

The tour guide moved on, gesturing for the group to follow him. The man stayed behind, looking carefully at the cases. After a moment, he smirked. "Don't worry, my friends. You will be mine."


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Hey, guys! I'm soooooo sorry this took so long. I love Christmas, and it's almost that time of year again, so I was trying to fit Christmas into all of my current fics. Anyway, here's chapter one. Read, review, and enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter One**

"Pack your bags, we're going to Paris." Nate strode out of the room, leaving everyone else behind him watching him with more confusion than usual from his mysterious exits.

"What? Paris? Why?" Tara stared after him blankly. She had never really understood his habit of leaving without explaining his meaning, but now he was just being complicated on purpose. "I thought the jewels were in the Tower of London."

"Who knows? At this point I just go with it," Eliot said, shrugging. "Unless Sophie's trying to do my accent. Then I can't ignore it."

"I do your accent very well!" Sophie huffed, crossing her arms.

"No, you don't," Eliot and Parker said in unison. They glared at each other.

"Did Parker and Eliot just agree on something?" They never agreed on anything. Hardison sat back in his seat, stunned. He might have had it bad for Parker, but she didn't seem to have romantic, or really any kind of feelings for anyone, let alone him. He had come to terms with it. It was inevitable that she find someone she matched with, and that person was apparently not him. It was probably a good thing that both Eliot and Parker, who avoided touch like the plague, had someone they could relate with. Even in their weird, non-physical way.

"So, we're going to Paris, huh?" Parker, not picking up on the awe and incredulity in the room, looked blissfully at ease and excited. She usually had a childlike enjoyment of the world, but for some reason, Paris seemed to excite her more than any other place they'd ever gone. "I love Paris!"

"Why? It's mostly art and culture, and that is not your thing," Sophie pointed out.

"Paris is where I stole the first of the Zodiac stones." Parker smiled fondly at the memory. The rest of the crew nodded in understand, except Hardison, who stood with a look of utter confusion on his face.

"What are the Zodiac stones?"

"They're Parker's pet project," Eliot said gruffly, glaring at Parker. She rolled her eyes.

"They're my collection, Eliot." She turned to Hardison. "The Zodiac stones are a group of twelve stones, each a part of a different sixteenth century major European city. One in Paris, one in London, one in Rome, one in-"

"Yes, Parker, we get it." Tara rolled her eyes and waved her hands. "Get to the point."

"I'm trying to collect them all." She sighed happily again. "And the first one was in Paris. I like Paris."

"Yeah, we know." Sophie shook her head. "Let's go, we're headed to Paris for… God knows how long."

"I like Paris."

"We get it, Parker!"

* * *

Parker stood in her apartment, glancing around. Her closet was pretty much a clothing rack full of hangers in the middle of the seriously empty space. She was bringing all her clothing, all her lock picking and jumping equipment, and it still didn't fill up two bags. For the first time in forever, she felt like her life was lacking. She felt… empty.

"Parker? You ready?" Eliot stepped inside the doors. No one trusted Parker's driving, as she had learned and only knew how to drive a getaway car in a high speed car chase, so they always sent someone to pick her up when it was time to leave for somewhere. Apparently it was Eliot's turn.

"Almost." She turned to face him and stopped short. Maybe it was the lighting, but she'd never seen Eliot look so… he looked different. He always looked rugged and male and rough, but tonight he looked almost… attractive? Parker had never been attracted to anyone before. She'd never felt that pull in her gut that told her that person was someone she'd like to get to know. But she felt it now, looking at Eliot.

"You okay, Parker?" He must have sensed her hesitation. She shook her head to clear it, and she picked up a bag in both hands.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks for picking me up." Rather than answer, Eliot jerked his head at the car and Parker followed his nonverbal cues and walked behind him out to the car waiting in the driveway. He may have earned all the money he'd ever need working with the crew, but he was a cowboy, through and through, and his beat up old pick-up truck proved that. She climbed into the cab and tossed her bags behind the seat.

He revved the engine and began moving forward, and they sat looking at the road in silence. After a few moments, Eliot cleared his throat. "Parker, you can relax if you want. Throw your feet up on the dash, whatever." He seemed almost nervous, which wasn't Eliot's style. At all. "You look like you're uncomfortable."

"I'm not uncomfortable," she said automatically. His nervousness was making her nervous. And his closeness was making her hot. She felt all tingly in her hand where it sat about three inches from his on the console between the seats. The cab of the truck was closing in on her and the heat started zinging in her belly. She placed a hand over it, trying to get the spiraling heat to stop.

He looked over at her in concern, misinterpreting her gesture. "You okay? Do you have a stomach ache? Do you want me to pull over?" Like that would do any good. Parker lived in the middle of nowhere, and if they pulled over looking for help, they'd probably be stuck at the side of the road for hours before someone stopped by. Possibly longer.

She shook her head. "No, I'm fine. My stomach is fi- Eliot, look out!"

Eliot turned his head back to the road just in time to see a deer dart out, and he swerved over to the side to avoid the deer. And the truck plowed straight into a snowbank. It was the coldest, snowiest winter in Massachusetts in over ten years, and that resulted in nearly ten food high snowbanks at the sides of nearly every road, especially in the wooded towns outside the city. Exactly where Parker lived.

The airbags exploded, and they were shoved back against their seats. Eliot immediately shoved his down and pushed open the door, jumping over the side into the bed of the truck and hopping over the other side to wrench open her door, "Parker? Parker, are you okay?"

She blinked her eyes rapidly, but she seemed to be okay. She had a dull ache in her left knee, but she was sure it would go away soon. Eliot lifted her out of the half submerged truck, and sat her down next to the truck on a bed of packed snow. He brushed her mussed brown hair out of her eyes. "I'm- I'm fine, Eliot. I'm sorry."

"For what?" His gruff tone made her shrink back, and he rolled his eyes. "Parker, what is it?"

"I'm sorry about the accident." She gazed up into his concerned eyes. So unlike him, to be so open with his emotions. They were the two in the group that were shut down and closed off, and even when she had had a… thing with Hardison, she hadn't opened up to him and let him in. "If you hadn't been worried about my stomach, you wouldn't have had to swerve off the road to avoid the deer."

"What the hell are you talking about?" He glowered, leaning even closer. "Honey, none of this is your fault. Deer jump out in the road all the time, and on roads as icy as this, even if I had noticed it when I looked at you, I wouldn't have been able to brake in time to avoid it. Almost every time a car hits a deer, the deer does more damage to the car than the car does to the deer. Believe me, we're both uninjured, and I might be able to push the car back onto the road. We're better off this way, I promise."

"Are you mad at me?" She had shrunk back into the snow while he had been ranting, and he sighed leaning back and pulling her up to his chest.

"No, Parker, I'm not mad at you. I'm mad that you think this is your fault."

"Eliot, that doesn't make sense."

He shook his head and stood up, pulling her to her feet. "Okay, you wait here. I'm gonna go move the car out to the road."

She nodded and stood still, shifting to the knee that didn't hurt when he wasn't looking. She didn't need to give him another reason to be nervous right now. A few minutes later, Eliot appeared around the side of the truck. She looked at him in confusion and he shook his head. "The truck isn't moving. We're gonna have to walk."

"Walk?" She asked, looking panicked for a moment, before quickly covering it up. "Where are we going to walk to?"

"Shelter, honey," Eliot said soothingly. "We're walking to shelter."

He waved his hand, encouraging her to come follow him. She glanced down at her knee quickly, then took a step onto it. And it immediately gave out on her. She fell to the ground, clutching her knee. He sprinted to her, bending down and holding her knee still. "Parker! Parker, what happened?"

"In the- in the crash, my knee got caught. I thought it was just achy, but I can't put any weight on it." She was wincing, he realized. She never winced. She never let anyone see any weakness. He almost smiled. She was letting him in, if only in a small way she probably didn't realize. After all, she wasn't choosing to show him she was injured, he'd asked her to walk and she couldn't. In fact, she had been hiding it from him until he'd told her they'd have to walk. As much as he liked her showing him a side of her no one else saw, he'd always admired her backbone.

"Okay, Parker, you can't walk." He glanced around. "I'm gonna pick you up, okay? I'll carry you."

"Are you sure you can hold me?"

"Parker, I'm a hitter and your weigh about fifty pounds. I think I'll manage." He smiled down at Parker as he lifted her up. She gasped in surprise, maybe a bit more feminine of a gesture than he was expecting, but he could handle her swooning over him. He could definitely stand that. It wasn't until a moment later when she said, "Eliot, put me down!" that Eliot realized he was holding her at her knee. He quickly readjusted his arms to gave one around her shoulder and one underneath her firm thighs. Thighs he suddenly couldn't stop thinking about… he'd never felt an attraction to a woman this strong before. Sure, he'd been with… probably hundreds of them, but he'd never felt this way about any of them. He felt like… not only did he want to spend Friday night with her, but he wanted to spend all of the weekend with her. Not necessarily in bed all the time either.

She immediately quieted when he moved his hand up, letting her head come to rest on his shoulder. He started walking and a moment later, he felt her breath slow and puff warmly against his neck. He glanced down and noticed her lashes laying darkly against her pale cheeks. Apparently the cold and the excitement of the car ride had gotten to her. And it seemed to be getting colder. They needed to find somewhere to stay before night fell and temperatures dropped below zero. He felt something cold and wet land on his ear, and he looked up to see white snowflakes falling down around them. They definitely needed to find somewhere to stay now.

Parker blinked her eyes open, finding herself snuggled into a thick quilt wrapped tight around her. The air was much warmer than where she had been before. She yawned and stretched and began to move out from under the blanket, but found her injured knee immoveable. Confused, she lifted the comforter to find her whole leg nestled in between blankets that were considerably warmer than the one wrapped around the rest of her body. Opening her eyes fully, she took in her surroundings. She looked to be in a cabin of some kind, decorated warmly and openly and filled with Christmas decorations. And there was a heart on the ceiling about her head when she looked up at it. She growled. Christmas, she loved. But Valentine's Day was just terrible. Narrowing her eyes, she sat up. And noticed more and more mixed Christmas and Valentine's Day decorations. "Eliot!" She yelled. "Where are we?"

He walked in the door and smiled as he spotted her grumpy face. "We're um… we're kind of at a bed n' breakfast. It's a… couple's retreat."

"That's why there's Valentine's Day decorations, isn't it?" She glanced around. "Why are we here?"

"You fell asleep on my shoulder and it was damn near blizzarding out, Parker, what the hell did you want me to do?" He snapped. Apparently her questions were nagging at him. Well, it served him right. He had brought her to some weird couple's place where everyone would be oozy gooey and obnoxious and she did not want to spend the time she should be in Paris in some love shack. Though it was really warm. And Eliot did not look like he was willing to get lovey dovey with her anyway. Thank God. She didn't like him, she was just… attracted to him. Which was weird in itself.

She merely raised an eyebrow at him. "Blizzarding?"

"You're leg is broken! What do you want from me?" He sat at the foot of the bed, burying his head in his arms. "I thought it might be a lot worse. If your foot got crushed you could have been seriously hurt, Parker. I was… worried about you."

He was worried about her? Duh, Parker, she thought to herself. It was his job to protect the crew. Clearly, that was what he was doing. Why she was over thinking this like a… girl? She never acted like a girl. Maybe that was why he wasn't attracted to her. She needed to stop.

Parker looked adorable, lying there in the blankets, wearing his pajamas. He tried not to dwell on the thought of his clothes lying against her naked skin, but the idea seemed burned into his mind. He had been nearly terrified when she had fallen asleep in his arms and her body grew cold from the weather. He knew it was irrational, he had survived much worse, but for some reason Parker's safety was more important to him than his own.

He watched her open her mouth to respond to him, but there came a knock on the door and he turned his head to see the batty old woman who had brought them up and checked them in barely three hours before. "Hello, lovebirds."

Parker opened her mouth again, but he sent her a quick, sharp look and she shut it right away and smiled politely at the woman. "Yes, ma'am."

"Well, Mr. and Mrs. Lewis, I just brought you up some hot chocolate. I know this might not be the ideal honeymoon for you two, but some warm, chocolate to drink and relax together in this nice warm bed." The thought of Parker's naked skin on his pajamas was nearly enough to make him overheat, but the thought of her in bed with him damn near made him explode. He needed to stop thinking about it.

"Thank you, Mrs. Gregory. You tell your husband we really appreciate you giving us a room on such little notice." His Southern accent ran stronger than usual, prompting her to respond in kind.

"Yes, it was so sweet of ya'll to take us in. Especially so close to Christmas."

Betty Gregory giggled. "Oh, well, you know this is almost perfect. We've got a couple of lost newlyweds and a donkey and a manger out in back. It's a shame you aren't pregnant, young lady." Pregnant? Whoa. Now that was moving too fast. Yes, Parker had begun to come to terms with her attraction to him. She still didn't like him, but she could accept she wanted him. There wasn't really a way around it. Being pregnant with Eliot's baby was just… overwhelming. But… maybe not entirely bad. She shook her head. She couldn't afford to think that way.

"It is a shame," Parker said, forcing herself to giggle along with Betty as she placed the hot chocolate on the bedside table. Eliot smirked, trying to act like a Southern gentleman. However, the fierce scowl in place on his face kind of ruined it. She elbowed him in the side, nudging him into the act. They might not be actual newlyweds, but they sure as hell had to act like it.

"Well, had I not been working so hard courtin' her nine months ago, I woulda enjoyed setting the perfect scene in your manger." He smiled his most charming smile, and her heart fluttered. His smile made his face light up, his typical frown lightened and he seemed… happy. Of course, that's what a smile usually was, but his smile wasn't one of those fake ones Sophie had told her about. It reached his eyes, wrinkled the crow's feet around them, and he looked almost careless. It was a true smile.

"Well, you two relax and get comfortable." Betty backed out of the room and Eliot and Parker both relaxed.

He slumped back on the bed next to her, breathing out heavily. "I'm sorry I didn't warn you about the cover story."

"It's just a story, Eliot, it's fine." She lifted a finger. "But we should call Nate, Sophie, Hardison and Tara. They should know why we're not in Paris."

"Already did." He shook his head. "Bad news, though. Noreaster's coming in tomorrow. All flights cancelled for the duration. It's supposed to knock out power in most of Massachusetts for at least a week. Looks like we're going to be newlyweds Mr. and Mrs. Lewis for a little while more."

She looked over at him, studying his profile. It was her job to take in details and make assumptions. Maybe reading people wasn't her best skill, but she figured she should learn it at some point. She couldn't rely on Sophie forever. "That smile you gave her. It looked real." He turned to her, eyebrows raised. She smirked at him. "Seemed to me like you'd enjoy makin' a baby with me." She grinned as he rolled his eyes and shook his head. "Eliot wants my baby, Eliot wants my baby," she singsonged, still grinning at him and poking him in the shoulder.

He grabbed her finger and growled at her over her singing and laughing. "Stop! Stop it, Parker! I'm serious!"

* * *

"Just got off the phone with Eliot." Nate stepped up to Sophie, Hardison and Tara. "They're stuck at a bed and breakfast in Massachusetts. There's a noreaster coming, and there's no way they'll be here any sooner than next week. Also, Parker got her leg caught in the car when they ran into a snowbank, and she broke her leg. Could be longer than a week before she's good enough to travel. Looks like we're on our own for now."

"What are we gonna do without a hitter?" Tara asked, worried. Not only could they get caught in a dangerous situation, but no way in hell did she want Eliot trapped in a quaint couple's retreat with Parker. She saw the way he looked at her, and she had plans for the masculine hitter herself. It had been a while since she'd been with someone as powerful as him. She could barely contain herself at the thought of his muscular body sliding over hers as they laid in a bed covered with silken sheets. Yeah, Parker was not laying a hand on him before she did.

"Is Parker okay?" Hardison's thoughts immediately went to the girl of his dreams. She was his perfect other half, even if it was only as friends. They matched each other, their qualities balanced each other out. He couldn't lose her. Of course, he could stand being just friends. But he wanted more. And he wanted the chance to tell her how he felt and make her see that they could be great together.

"We're going to plan carefully and avoid any dangerous situations," Nate said, eyeing the whole group suspiciously. They had a knack for getting into trouble even when they didn't mean to. "And yes, Parker will be fine with a few weeks rest."

"So, it is time for reconnaissance, Nate?" Sophie asked, her accent thick. "Are we casing any joints?"

"You're very excited about this," Hardison commented, slightly freaked out. "You've gone far too long without taking a job."

"It's like sex," Tara nodded, holding up her pointer finger. "You never forget how, but you get antsy when you go without."

"Oh, she hasn't gone without," Nate said. Sophie gaped, Tara smirked and Hardison's mouth dropped open at the comment. "Without jobs, not without sex! Well, I wouldn't know if she's gone without sex. Though I don't think she has…"

"Yeah, yeah, we get it, you two hook up, now can we please go before I puke into this trashcan?" Hardison pointed at the bin next to him. He rolled his eyes and began walking away. "This is almost as bad as when Nate told me all the plans involve me dying." He muttered to himself as he walked away. Tara, her smirk still in place, walked after him, shaking her head. Sophie and Nate shared a secret smile as they followed the rest of their crew up the Parisian sidewalk.


End file.
